Today is further evidence that Sam Cassell's rabbinic direction at the point is the key to a monster Elton Brand performance. In the first half, Cassell assisted on three of EB's field goals and executed the side screen roll to perfection in a possession that yielded a trip to the line for Elton for two points. It was more of the same in the fourth quarter, with another three Cassell assists on three EB FGs. The thing to remember is that it's not just a matter of getting Elton going. Sure, EB dropping 25+ will always bode well for the Clips. But it's also about controlling every square foot of the offensive halfcourt. When Elton gets the ball in the mid-left post early in the set, before the double-team, it opens up all kinds of space on the floor. It allows the Clips' shooters - who, let's face it, are mid-range guys - creep closer in. It often triggers a mismatch for Kaman on the weak side, particularly against small teams. Shaun still has trouble facilitating that perfect, prompt entry into Elton, but Sam is the absolute master.

Sam's scoring game was plenty sweet, too. When Sam has a size advantage, he's insatiable on the offensive end. Damon Stoudamire and Chucky Atkins were looking like a couple of Hanna-Barbera drumsticks in the halfcourt. Cassell took every opportunity to shoot over and post the two undersized Memphis point guards and put together a 56% shooting day on 9-16.

Q. Ross denied Mike Miller shots all day, as Miller went 2-5 in the first half with three turnovers. The game turned in the second quarter not on any individual defensive matchup, but on the promptness of the rotation. Since I've been riding both Corey Maggette's help defense and his instincts in the defensive rotation for as long as I remember, I think it's only fair to comment that, whether it's Dunleavy getting through to him or just a personal set of adjustments, Corey hasn't been nearly the defensive liability lately that he's been for most of his career here. He almost doesn't suck. Corey has always been an adequate isolation defender - with his combination of quickness and size, that's no surprise. But he's making better decisions now in more intricate defensive sets.

Not to pick at a guy who went 2-2 from the field - and maybe it's just me - but has Daniel Ewing lost some basketball IQ points since last season? He's been making some horrendous decisions lately, exhibit A being the closing seconds of the first quarter today when he dribbled into a corner, slung a pass to nobody that resulted in a Chucky Atkins 3FG at the buzzer.[1]

The Clippers' next eight games, until they arrive in Cleveland, are all winnable in the conventional sense.[2] If they can win the next three at home against Milwaukee, New Jersey and Minnesota, they'll top .500 for the first time since December 9. The T-Wolves have a vicious upcoming schedule: Eight of the next ten away, with the two home games coming against PHX and Sacramento. As the standings begin to settle, it's becoming increasingly clear that Minnesota - and perhaps, perhaps Denver[3] -- will be the Clips' opponent for the final playoff spot [or two] and the right to be throttled by Dallas, because Houston and the Lakers are clearly not coming back to the pack, cataclysmic injuries being the only remote exception.

[1] Other than the couple games in Florida, Ewing has been turning the ball over at an unsettling rate any time he's gotten considerable minutes. 21 turnovers and 27 assists for the season. Not too much of an issue...provided we don't need him down the stretch.

[2] Every game is technically winnable, but for the sake of classification, let's call a winnable game (a) a road game against a losing team or (b) A home game against all but the most elite teams.

[3] I know that current fashion resides in a certain schadenfreude over AI's struggles in Denver, but does anyone really believe that, once 'Melo returns, they won't be a team that wins about 60-65% of its games?

Posted Wednesday, October 29 at 3:20PM

Good news!

We have launched a new ClipperBlog.com site! You are currently on our old system & are viewing an archived page. We will continue to keep all 670 posts from our first 3 years on this archive site. Soon we will be closing the comments for each of these older posts.

While playing against +500 teams until last week, Sam was relaxing on the bench and watched Shaun play against better teams. Sam can still find enough energy to play against average teams. And he can play big and capable of making EB even bigger against hopeless teams. Big deal!

"does anyone really believe that, once 'Melo returns, they won't be a team that wins about 60-65% of its games?"

Let me start by saying that I love the blog, I agree with you about 99% of the time and I love that there is someone that actually cares as much about Clips as much as I do.

With that out of the way, your comment is insane. There is no team in the East that is winning even 60% of their games. If they moved to the East, they would be a contender but still not the best team in the conference. Sadly, for Denver they play in the West and consequently play a much tougher schedule than the scrubs in the East.

In the West, the Mavericks, Spurs, Suns,
Jazz, Lakers and Rockets are all winning at a .600 or better clip. Are the Nuggets as good as any of these teams? Maybe the Jazz, Lakers or Rockets. That's a big maybe and it's also not a given that any of those teams will finish out the season on their current pace as they are likely overachieving if only to a small degree.

The trade did not significantly improve the Nuggets (see The Wages of Wins Blog for empirical evidence that this was not a significant upgrade) and due to Melo's suspension they haven't even worked through the growing pains of playing together which means even if they eventually get better, they will likely get worse first.

Bottom line, great blog, great writing, great analysis. Lay down the Denver crack pipe. IF, and that's a big IF, the Clippers get their shit together they are a better team than the Nuggets. Sadly that won't keep them from getting fed to the Mavs or Suns if they reach the playoffs.

Is .600 really all that impressive in the NBA? Maybe I'm whack here; I grant you that possibility. But over an 82-win season, that's about 49 wins -- what Memphis won last year, worse than Houston & Lakers. Three out of five. Though looking at their schedule, it's certainly tougher than average. They're done with piddly home games against the East.

Again, maybe I'm nutso, but I can't see how AI and Carmelo won't create opportunities for each other.

Daniel Ewing quoted in an interview last season that he is a "rhythm player" He needs to sweat and feel the game before he gets going.. MD's system requires his players to be "ready at all times" (remember Raja Bell). Can't really blame D.E. for his dumb-ass mistakes, because he's coming in cold almost 100% of the time and expected to perform. But then again, this is one of the most competitive sports leagues in the world..So Ewing just needs to Step his Game Up.
As for the Wave, Quit HATIN' man!

Q.D. ... totally agree with you about the wave ... I've been to every home game for the past 3 years, and i've witnessed about 4 or 5 waves. It seems that after each one, the visiting team goes on a mini-run. I think it's the basketball gods experssing their displeasure.

I'm still not convinced that the Memphis win is a sign of a Clippers turnaround. Even though we won by double digits we only outplayed them in one quarter. A lousy team in our house and for 3 of the 4 quarters they played us just about even. To top it off Memphis shot 47.9%. I know that they have become an offense oriented team but a good defense at home shouldn't allow that percentage. I won't be happy until the Clippers are holding opponents to shooting average in the low 40 percent range. That's how they won last year.
By the way anyone notice how Paul Davis looks so much more in control with the ball than Kaman? All he needs is experience.

I love the wave!
how dare you hate on excitement!
I hope the Clippers can turn it around, not sure I think Denver will be a great team. If we can get the #7 spot and play Phoenix for some revenge in the first round, I could have hope again (plus I'm moving to Phoenix in a couple weeks for a couple months and would love to wear my Clipper gear to a playoff game there).

Arnie, win against Memphis means a lot to this team. They were dominant & decisive. And it was easier than beating LA traffic. Now looking up for playoff spot is not an option. Reaching this level inspite of a disappointing season is unbelievable!

Hey Dave. They were only dominant for one quarter. For 3 quarters at home they were played even by one of the worst teaams in the league. Don't make more of this win than what it is. If we can stay on the court with teams over .500 I'll start taking notice. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Every player is a rhythm player...but real good ones can get over that and make it happen, even if they are cold or just got into the game. Everyone would love to have a great warmup, get up a good sweat, touch the ball a bunch, and then take shots...but it just doesn't always happen that way. If Ewing says he's a rythm player...it's an excuse.

As I look at that video over and over again, I can't for the life of me understand why there would be any Clipper guarding anyone inside the 3 point line. Just put guys in a zone around the outside of the three point line and deny any shot from the outside, ignoring any opponent who runs inside the line. Was it McCarty who was no.0 following a Sun under the basket? Why couldn't you just ignore that guy and double the guy who receives the inbound pass. Only 1.9 seconds is not enough time to pass the ball to someone else for a shot.

not only was it a bad decision to put in a cold rookie for defense, he also apparently never explained that they had a foul to give. (Cassell said that if he would have been guarding Bell, he would have knocked him into the 5th row before he let him shoot the ball. Barkley said the same thing.)

Also, it never occured to Dunleavy or anyone on the coaching staff to remind the point guard that there were only 22 seconds on the shot clock coming out of a time out with 2 minutes left. Cassell shares in the blame as well, but the coach should really know the situaton.

Even with a foul to give, you can't foul Bell while he's in the act of shooting from beyond the three point line. The best thing to do would have been to deny anyone the ball in a zone right outside the three point line. Give up a concession lay-up or make them shoot it from 35 feet.

lets not live in the past! Are all theses ten day contracts the answer. tell me how they are contirbuting to the team? I really want to catch the Lakers. I will be happy if we can do that. I watch the standings 24/7 to see if we can get em. Looking ahead at the schedule I predict that we will get some great wins in Febuary-March.